I was waiting at the bus stop on a Sunday morning (around 10 a.m.) and I realized that I was at the wrong bus stop after a few minutes. I started to walk away, looking at my phone to check my directions, towards the bus stop directly on Dinwiddie (I was at the stop on Columbia Pike in front of the plaza with the CVS, Popeyes, etc.) when a middle-aged man came up from behind the bus stop (from the parking lot) and asked me if I was lost. I looked up and smiled and said no, and continued to walk. He then asked me if I was going to be late for work, and I shook my head but didn’t turn back around to keep talking.

I made it to the corner of the intersection when my attention was caught by someone talking and I looked up and saw that this man was now in his red truck, at the intersection, with the window rolled down, beckoning for me to COME INTO HIS TRUCK to give me a ride!!! “Come here, come here.” he called, and I shook my head and said “No!” and turned the corner towards the other bus stop. It reminded me of all those times when you are a kid and they tell you never to get into the car with a stranger–this guy was a like a textbook example of creepy!!

I made it to the other bus stop and stood around, waiting, and called my boyfriend at this point to tell him about the creepiness (I live fairly nearby) and then got off the phone. A bus came by (not mine) and most of the people who had been standing around me had gotten on that bus. I heard a noise “psst” and looked, and the SAME GUY was now in the parking lot behind this bus stop calling me over to his truck!!! I immediately called my boyfriend to come get me ASAP and started walking away and turned back and the guy was getting out of his truck to FOLLOW me!! I crossed to the other side of the street and once I made it, looked back, and the guy was gone. I guess this creep must have realized that I was calling either the cops or someone else, because he disappeared. I was so angry and shaken up by the time my boyfriend showed up. This was Sunday morning, in BROAD DAYLIGHT, with plenty of people standing around as witnesses, and still this man was blatantly harassing me. When I relayed my story to a friend, she told me “I shouldn’t have smiled” when he asked me if I was lost the first time. What the hell!? Since when does a polite response become an open invitation to STALK ME?

Submitted by ABP on 7/13/2010

Location: Columbia Pike & Dinwiddie St.

Time of Harassment: Day Time (9:30A-3:30P)

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